Confronting Momentum: Mapping the Social Appraisal of an ‘Inevitable’ Motorway Capacity Expansion

Motorway capacity expansion projects are prominent causes for contestation. From a Large Technical Systems (LTS) perspective, the concept of ’momentum’ can be deployed to understand the shaping of social appraisal of such projects by systemic context. Momentum is the end stage in LTS development, designating stabilization in the co-evolution of the social and technical components of large-scale infrastructure systems. In large-scale road infrastructure planning, momentum becomes manifest in the assumed inevitability of capacity expansion projects. Yet as it remains unclear whether and how momentum is confronted by situated actors, this article presents a real-world manifestation of momentum in a controversial local planning issue. By mapping civil society actors’ social appraisals of the construction of a ‘missing link’ in the Dutch motorway system, it is investigated whether and how momentum is acknowledged, resisted but also sustained within the remit of a deliberative procedure. This exemplary case contributes to the theoretical and empirical understanding of social appraisal on large-scale road infrastructure planning. The article recommends that further research should focus on the practical and methodological challenges for studying momentum in the local planning context.